"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are [a] few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."
- President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 11/8/54"

KO story ,this is getting good.
About time it "bubbled over" in somebody in the media ,you know its in the back of your mind 24/7 while your going about your day doing whats got to be done but its back there ,2000 ,911 ,bulge ,nov.2 ,Iraq ,OBL ,Haliburton ,Curtis , Lemme ,feeney ,........

Cheney's creepy - kinda reminds me of the perv that hangs around the laundry mats watching for women to step out for a minute for change or a coke or something so he can steal their undies out of the dryer.

OT: Mark Fiori got it right this time. If you are not familiar with Mark Fiori he has some remarkably biting political cartoon animations. This one is about PBS, has Burt (of Burt and Ernie) replaced by Karl Rove, Bush as Barney and includes mention of "some things considered"

Suggestion for Peg C.: Round up all the cats in Northern Maine and send them to the White House in care of James Guckert. They will be welcomed, because ever since Guckert first showed up there, the place has been a vertiable cat house.

I felt a twinge of guilt, being the owner of two fine cats. Dakota, who appears to have Maine Coon Cat heritage, has even presented me with a seagull and a crow! But I worry about him, as there are many swans in the Vltava river not far from my home, and I don't think he has it in him to bag a swan... I do my best to protect the local birds - both kitties have bells on their collars, which seems to foil their hunting somewhat, and I feed them very well indeed - all in all, it's a tough nut to crack. But I do believe that all cat owners should bell their pets, and of course have them neutered - we have more than enough already

I have found that adding a bell to my cat's collar has greatly reduced the rabbits, birds, snakes, etc... that she likes to bring into the house --- sometimes dead but often alive. I can't say how your neighbors will feel about putting a bell on their cats but it could be worth a try.

Taking a moment to move away from the cat discussion, is anyone else here as disgusted as I am over the RealID legislation? How much of our personal freedom will we continue to give away in the name of security?

Maybe the part that angers me most is that the Real Ominous ID thing was tagged onto another "emergency" $80 billion theft of our tax money to kill people and stuff the pockets of the Cheney/Bush oil/war-profiteering crime syndicate. And to top it off, the Senate vote was unanimous!

There is apparently no limit to their evil, and apparently no limit to what the American people will put up with.

The day they require the RealID card will be the day I go off grid or out of this country for good.

Yes the fact that the Senate vote was unanimous does concern me as well. So I am to believe that not one of the 100 elected officials had enough concern about the passage of a.) taxpayer money or b.) establishment of communist style "papers" to say No to this?

Our government is failing us. Our system is failing us. The way of life I enjoyed as an American will not be there for my children and that sickens and saddens me.

Lampley hits back at York 5-12-2005
Appearently York goes along with the theory of
'shy Republicans' screwing up the data.

Good one. Can we ask Lampley to have York provide pictures and names of these 'shy Republicans'? I need them for my collection. This is a species I never knew existed. Perhaps this is the long sought "missing link" of human ancestry.

I have never run across a single shy republican anywhere. They are ANYTHING BUT SHY --- they always jump right in my face anytime, anywhere, & loudly. They're always ready for an argument because they have 1 answer for everything .... Clinton.

Just read Lampley's latest rebuttal to York. The use of the word "Ostrich" caught my eye, because it's an apt description. The "Ostriches" that appear here often comment on our lack of interest in debating with them in a civil manner on this blog.

It's become clear that most people on this blog are well past the point of mere civil debate on this election fraud controversy. Dealing with posts from these "Ostriches" is annoying and distracting.

The focus here is much more on reaching people, such as Mr. Lampley, and Mr. Koehler, who have the capability of smelling a rat, and replying, "Hey! That's a rat!", and not waste their time, and ours, trying to find every excuse in the book to convince themselves, and us, that it's NOT a rat.

Baby...This is the "Rat" of all time!

My brother-in law is a succesful car salesman, and he told me the reason for his success: "First you have to avoid putting any energy into selling to people who aren't going to buy. You learn to sniff out the ones who are serious, and concentrate all of your energy on them. Get rid of the people, who are obviously wasting your time, as fast as you can"!................Ostriches.

I even saw that the "Ostrich Of The Day", that's been entering this blog, tried to claim that he's not an apologist for this neocon fraud. Lord, he has no idea how transparent he actually is!

Hi, Robert #26 - The Republicans in the Senate and Congress know the truth. They just don't want to give up "power" and the accompanying personal financial reward. They are just thinking SELFISHLY of themselves and what they personally want. They are willing to sacrifice integrity, principle, the honor of America, democracy, the lives of innocent young Americans sent to war for oil, profit and lies, the lives of innocent Iraqis, and indeed THEIR OWN SOULS - for what? These people are UNFIT for any office, of any kind, in any society. They are ALL American traitors, and they all should be impeached.

also on #26
I do not think of Kerry as an Ostrich. Referring to a Kerry comment when pressed that looking back he would, even knowing what he knows now, do the same-i.e. vote for war.

My impression is that he was sending a 'signal' (as the politico's like to put it) to the Powers behind the war machine that he (Kerry) was safe- Disregard 'my' 1971 antiwar stand I (Kerry ) am now a solid war hawk, your war is safe and the need for more and more bombs will continue.

While many of us were spending our weekends maching in protest of a coming war and bush was calling us a 'focus group' and Kerry was silent-and with that one admission he let the air out of the antiwar movement in the Demo party and those who marched with us.

So I do not see him as an Ostich I see him as a fair weather bird who migrated away from storms to a safer breeding ground, to keep his bankroll, actually our donations, intact.

I think ostriches make up a relative minority of Republicans, although I understand why Lampley used the metaphor...he was really talking about the media, not Republicans. The media have buried their respective heads in the sand and ignored the election fraud problem, as if by ignoring it they will help it disappear.

Republicans, I think, fall into three categories. Ostriches are the third, and the smallest group.

The first group consists of those who see election fraud as two-sided and an unavoidable stepchild of aggressive politics. If anyone says, "The G.O.P. stole Florida in 2000, and Ohio in 2004, so Bush is an illegitimate president," they reply, "What about Wisconsin?" or "Democrats stole the Washington governor's race." These replies aren't designed to stimulate further inquiry into election fraud, rather to make fraud appear like a two-edged sword...and something to just forget about except for cosmetic changes in election laws, such as HAVA. Most Capitol Hill Republicans are in this category.

The second group is made up of the kinds of Republicans we see on bradblog, in the form of trolls. They tend to be loud and profane, like sports fans at a football stadium who have had too much to drink. Also like football fans, they are ferociously partisan in favor of their side, and tend to view opponents not as healthy rivals, but as enemies deserving of contempt. Really, they aren't Republicans as much as they are liberal haters, which also means they're anti-intellectual; they see liberals as eggheads and wussies (secretly they wish they were smarter), and in this respect they aren't entirely wrong...John Kerry has acted that way since November 2.

John Kerry has also been an ostrich, like those Republicans who refuse to talk about election fraud at all. These Republicans use "voter fraud" as a substitute phrase, to the extent they say anything, and they say "Let's move on" a lot. Their real fear isn't that Bush will be exposed as a cheater (many of them really don't like Bush all that much), but that the stock market will tank and that America's world dominance will be threatened if our election is exposed as crooked. Privately, they suspect the truth...but it's too dangerous to let it out.

Sorry Hearya --- that doesn't work. It's definitely an oddity that RLM's time is 2 hours ahead of everybody else, but it happened between post #12 and post #26. Are our post "times" coming from the Bradblog clock or our own clocks?

Rep. Tom Feeney, R-Fla., while defending DeLay, said he thinks tighter ethics rules are inevitable. He supports a proposal to make lawmakers and congressional aides get their trips vetted by the ethics panel before they travel.

I found this site recently (yayacanada.) She has lots of good links and very thought provoking messages to these fundie "christians." I believe you have said you are atheist, which is certainly fine with me. But those who say they are Christian should be held to the words they say they believe in:

Sorry for the graphic - but I feel compelled to put it here:

"George W. Bush and company are turning Iraqi children into rubble, in spite of Luke 17:1 and 2 where Jesus clearly states: "It is impossible but that offences will come; but woe unto him through whom they come. It were better that he were hanged about the neck, and be cast into the sea than that he should offend one of these little ones." CHRISTIANS! What the hell are you thinking, letting this happen? Every church bell from North to South, and East to West, should be loudly ringing until this evil is stopped.
All the meetings and public prayer in the world won't stop Bush. If you don't have a bell, please get one!"

Kira #36 - Thank you for your post. THIS is why I was against the war in the first place. THIS is a war crime. Bush and his administration are murderous war criminals, ALONG WITH ALL their phoney "christian" war supporters. May they all soon be on the receiving end of JUSTICE. The WORLD NEEDS TO SEE JUSTICE SERVED SOON. Not just in our lifetimes!

Where will it all end,its just so sickening.
CHRISTIANS talk of a "second coming" of Jesus ,I hope he is not born in Iraq because chances are Bush will kill him if he hasn't already.
Why don't they make their bombs in the shape of a cross so the godless will know they are being saved by CHRISTIANS and all is well and as God meant it to be.

250 Million people captured and held hostage by "DEMOCRACY" ......... let the rape continue .........."we make our own reality"...........I'm a united .......WMD's
Power to "the 6 or 7" .............

It is just sooo sickening to me, too. I was physically ill during the early days of the attack on Fallujah because it was obviously & clearly murder. That's what it is called when attacks are made on civilians. This will go down as being one of the most unjust and horrible wars of all times. And adding to the horror is the claim by the neoCON religious zealots that it is to wipe out evil and give "democracy" to the people of the middle east. Bastards. Demons. Asses of Evil.

...snip...The religious right of twenty-first century America is anti-American, inherently violent, and a cruel, tyrannical, punitive, force of death and destruction. In its mindset, adult human lives do not matter because the human condition itself is inherently evil resulting in eternal and everlasting punishment in hell unless its members are redeemed in a prescribed manner by the fundamentalist God/man/savior, Jesus Christ. Moreover, with an embarrassingly adolescent flamboyance, Dominionists shamelessly rape, pillage, and desecrate the earth because in the first place, their Bible has given them authority over all things human and in the second place, their "imminent" apocalyptic rapture, transporting them from the human "veil of tears" to live happily ever after in heaven, entitles them to do so. Meanwhile, we the unredeemed, the unbelievers, the poor, the feminists, the gay and lesbian, the disabled, the homeless, the mentally ill, the addicted, and those who are conscientiously following divergent spiritual paths of their choice, are suffering in the wake of Christian fundamentalism's devastation of the economy, the earth, and the human race. But this is what we deserve for not becoming born-again devotees of their Jesus. And we deserve even worse-to burn in hell for all of eternity. Hence, we are expendable, inconsequential, and a force to be conquered, broken, imprisoned, or killed. ***MORE***

Kira #36 - it's not just the Christians who should be outraged. Pagans of all walks - look to your powers that be. Do as you will - harm none!!!!! HARM NONE!!!! DO No Harm to the Mother/Goddess and her CHILDREN. All the rules I follow on my alternate path point to these truths. Any human that walks this earth should be against those who freely harm the earth and it's children. Anyone who isn't outraged - WHY NOT!! How can anyone blindly close thier eyes to the atrocities that are taking place or ignore the lies, harms and so forth that are taking place either in or by the hand of our government. To all of the powers that be - deliver us from the evils that are being cast forth and may they visited back upon them ten fold. Whether you say Blessed Be or Amen - may we have the strength to over come the powers corupt.

I agree ShadowTwinChaos --- but these damn people who call themselves Christians, yet pay no attention to the words of Christ, himself, are committing the most egregious sin (IMHO.) I think most people from other paths (the Pagans, the Atheists, the other Christians who Pat Robertson has called the "Anti-Christ" , and all others ARE totally OUTRAGED. It's this FundaMENTAL bunch that holds ideas akin to the Malleus Maleficarum.

I have relatives who are FundaMENTAL Christians --- I've lost patience with my relatives who are largely Republican. Some aren't fundies, but they have made me angry because they say they "vote with their pocketbook." In my opinion they don't have much integrity because they are playing for a short-term gain (that in reality isn't even that much, monetarily) and contributing to the pillage & raping of not only OUR country, but the entire globe.

Anyway --- I've washed my hands of them until they wake up --- if they ever do. Until then, they make me sick.

I know what you are saying Kira - it is very saddening to those of us who get it (whatever path walked) to those who don't. I do have to agree with you that those of us on alternate paths do tend not to be republicans. However, there are plenty of complacent Pagans out there. There are tons of couch potatoe people of all walks who need to wake up and smell the coffee. This isn't going to get better without us making changes. Let us hope that everyone wakes up and it gets better. Until then - we can do all we can along with prayer and hope that we can last that long. Peace